Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 9, 1992 TAG: 9201090639
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CONGRESS OLIN'S
JIM OLIN'S decision to retire after 10 years in Congress has brought 6th District candidates out of the woodwork.That's no surprise. His low-key, hard-work approach to the job proved popular with voters over the years. The line of prospective successors, forced to bide their time by Olin's political strength, started to back up.
They are coming forth now - and there's a curiously Olinesque air to the field.
For starters, of the five names most often mentioned - two of whom have formally announced - all but one are from the Roanoke Valley.
That's more than population figures alone might suggest. Though the Roanoke metropolitan area is the most populous part of the 6th, it is not a dominant edge. Roanokers comprise less than 40 percent of the electorate.
Traditionally, however, the 6th has been thought of as a Roanoke seat, at least by Roanokers: The fact that Olin is a Roanoker contributed to his initial election over a Republican from the northern end of the district.
More significantly Olinesque, the field is not a bunch of career politicians and partisan hacks. It is a high-caliber group that merits respect.
To be sure, none of the prospects depart from the congressional norm quite as much as Olin did. He entered Congress already in his 60s, and after retiring from a successful career as an engineer and plant manager for General Electric. The prospective successors are younger. Three of the five are lawyers, a far more frequent occupational background than engineering among the men and women of Congress.
To be sure, too, all five have political connections stemming from a longstanding interest in politics and public affairs. But only one - ex-Del. Phoebe Orbaugh of Rockingham, a possible GOP candidate and a schoolteacher by trade - has held elective office.
The three lawyers among the five - announced GOP candidate Bob Goodlatte, and possible Democratic candidates John Edwards and John Fishwick, all of Roanoke - have held local and district party posts. When in his 20s, Goodlatte also was an aide for a couple of years to then-Congressman Caldwell Butler, Olin's predecessor.
Steve Musselwhite of Vinton, the only announced Democratic candidate, is an insurance executive with a long list of civic activities. His political connections are service on the state Transportation Board since 1985, and friendships with such figures as former Gov. Gerald Baliles and fellow Vintonite Richard Cranwell, majority leader of the Virginia House.
But such things - service in the party trenches, or as a young congressional aide, or on a state board - seldom carry fame and fortune. Each man today makes his living from lawyering or (in Musselwhite's case) selling insurance, not from politicking.
There's time for other candidates to emerge. But already, judging from the names most prominently mentioned, the 6th stands a good chance of continuing its run of capable representatives who see in Congress an opportunity above all for public service.
Keywords:
POLITICS